5 Feature Geometry — Internal Organization of Speech Sounds : 8.5.1 Introduction The discussion in the preceding section illustrates that the basic units of phonological representation are not phonemes but features. Features play the same linguistically meaningful distinctive role as phonemes, but the use of features offers straightforward

doi:10.1201/9781482276237-42

Chapter

5 Feature Geometry — Internal Organization of Speech Sounds

ABSTRACT

While this sequential model of phonological representation is conceptually simple and analytically tractable, it has a number of serious inadequacies. All features are assumed to have a positive or negative value for every segment, regardless of whether such features could conceivably apply to that segment or not. It also makes no sense, and serves no practical purpose, to denote labial consonants as [-lateral] or vowels as [-distributed, -strident]. Further, the phonological rules in linear phonology do not explain why some phonological processes are more natural than others. Also, many phonological rules can become so complex that they are almost incomprehensible (such as the stress rule in SPE).